nd thus was formed the most famous,
the purest and the most heroic body of warriors the world has ever
seen. Hugh de Payens had gathered three hundred Knights-Templars
around him at Jerusalem: in five years nearly every one had been slain
in battle. But enthusiasm filled the ranks faster than they were mowed
down: none ever surrendered and the order paid no money for ransom.
When hemmed in by overwhelming numbers, they fought till the last man
fell, or died, a wounded captive, in the hands of the Saracens. Of
the twenty-two Grand Masters, seven were killed in battle, five died
of wounds, and one of voluntary starvation in the hands of the
infidel.

When Acre was lost, and the last hold of the Christians in the Holy
Land was wrested from them, only ten Knights-Templars of the five
hundred who fought there escaped to Cyprus. They chose Jacques de
Molay for Grand Master, replenished their treasury and renewed their
members; but their mission was gone for ever. The order was exempt
from episcopal jurisdiction and subject to the pope alone; its wealth,
courage and devotion were rusting for lack of employment. Boniface
VIII., with that grandeur and daring which make of him, despite his
faults, so magnificent a figure in history, conceived the idea of
uniting them with the other military orders--the Hospitallers and the
Teutonic Knights--and making of the united orders an invincible army
to enforce on Europe the decrees of a benevolent and theocratic
despotism. They soon became suspected and hated by bishops and kings
alike, and at length were betrayed by the papacy itself to their
enemies.

In 1304, a pair of renegade Templars,[73] who for their crimes were
under sentence of imprisonment for life in the prison at Toulouse,
sought an introduction to the king, and promised in return for their
liberty to give information of certain monstrous crimes and sacrileges
of common and notorious occurrence in the order. Depositions were
taken and sent to Philip's creature, Pope Clement V. Some
communication passed between them, but no action was taken and the
matter seemed to have lapsed. About a year after these events the
pope wrote an affectionate letter to Jacques de Molay, inviting him to
bring the treasure of the order and his chief officers to France, to
confer with himself and the king respecting a new crusade. Jacques and
his companions, suspecting nothing, came and were received by pope and
king with great friendliness: the